Reading the Books: 1
by Ranger'sBabe16
Summary: Director Fury receives a mysterious box from a stranger with the initials NDA. Inside the box is the life story of one Percy Jackson. The note tells Fury to read the books with his elite The Avengers. What will the Avengers think of Percy Jackson? This is the first book in the PJO series. Hope you enjoy!
1. Finding the Books

**Authors Note**

Ok, I know I shouldn't post this, but it's been stuck in my head for weeks and it won't go away. I have no clue why but whatever so here we are another story. Please enjoy!

~Ranger'sBabe16

**Warnings **

I don't think that there will be any just mild swearing!

Chapter 1: Finding the Books

**Fury P.O.V.**

Director of the top secret agency of S.H.I.E.L.D., Fury sat at his desk on the helicarrier reading over reports from his Avengers. They were currently relaxing and recovering after The Battle for New York as people has started calling it. Thor was back on Asgard with his family taking care of his trickster brother Loki. Stark was finishing his rebuilding of Stark Tower after Loki destroyed part of it. Banner was with Stark working with Stark rebuilding. The Cap was somewhere in Southern Florida learning more about the modern world. Natasha Romanoff was off on an adventure with the resident archer Clint Barton. A knock at his door brought him out of his musings.

"Enter," I barked. Agent Maria Hill entered with a box and a bemused look on her face.

"Sir, this box came in for you. I don't know what's in it, but it's not dangerous." Agent Hill said setting the box on the desk and stepping back out the room shutting the door behind her. I looked down at the box and wondered what was in it. I took out my long wicked looking knife and slit the box open. On top of all the Styrofoam peanuts was a note in elegant handwriting.

Director Fury,

Hello Director I'm sure you're wondering who I am. I tell you plan and simple I am a friend. Enclosed in this box is a story of a boy named Percy Jackson. This story is true. Percy and his friends could become great allies for the great agency of S.H.I.E.L.D. if only you agree. I dearly hope you do for a great evil is descending and I think that neither you nor your Avengers can face it alone. You need help and Percy can definitely give you a distinct advantage. I hope you take advantage of this opportunity. Read these stories with your Avengers and good luck Director we will meet soon. Sooner than you think, and just remember the Gods are always watching don't make me regret giving you this chance.

~NDA

Director Fury read the note again and again hoping to find some clue of who this NDA was. HE gently set the paper with note down and riffled through the book until he found a blue book.

**'Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief'**

The book title read. Director Fury pulled out four more books each a different color and a different title. He stacked the books together and looked at the note one more time.

Read these stories with your Avengers

The note read. Director Fury looked over at the wall, stood up and hit a small red button.

"Assemble the Avenger's Stark Tower." He whispered and the button was gone melting into the metal of the helicarrier. Director Fury grabbed the books and left his office.

"Agent Hill, Agent Coulson with me." He barked before leaving heading for Stark Tower the books in hand.

**Authors Note **

Ok what do you think? Yes, No? Well the second chapter is coming up as fast as I can type! Enjoy. The reviews are always welcome.

~Ranger'sBabe16


	2. I Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher

**Authors Note**

Thanks for all the reviews I appreciate them! Enjoy the first chapter of PJO with Avengers.

~Ranger'sBabe16

**Disclaimer **

I don't own PJO or Avengers! I wish, but sadly no. I own nothing in this story at all most is from Percy Jackson!

Chapter 2: I Accidently Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher

**Tony P.O.V.**

Tony Stark sat in his comfortable lounge enjoying the soundless discomfort of the lounges occupants. Just then the elevator beeped and Fury stepped out.

"Fury, what's the emergency?" I asked him. He glared at me before throwing a stack of books my way. I caught them with an oomph.

"Read these books." He said sitting down looking at me expectantly. Coulson and Hill sat down too and looked just as confused as the rest of us.

"Um why?" I asked

"Stark, we have a potential enemy or ally in the pages of those books and we need to know which. Now let's read them out loud." Fury said. I shrugged and began.

**'The Lightning Thief.'**

**Chapter 1 I Accidently Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher'**

"What kind of title is that? It sounds dangerous." Bruce comments.

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood. **

"What's a half-blood?" Nat asked.

**If your reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try and lead a normal life. Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful nasty ways. **

"Killed? What kind of sick person kills a kid?" I asked

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this happened. But f you recognize yourself in these pages— if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you. Don't say I didn't warn you.**

"Who will come?" Clint asked

"Keep reading I want to know." Bruce said.

** My name is Percy Jackson.**

"Oh Perseus Jackson!" Thor said before going silent.

"What about him? Do you know him?" Fury asked

"By reputation only, I can not say more I took an oath." Thor replied.

** I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York. Am I a troubled kid? **

"Yeah, I bet" Steve said

**Yeah. You could say that. **

Everyone laughed, and Steve blushed.

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan—twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

"Sounds like torture." I said

** I know— it sounds like torture.**

We smiled.

** Most Yancy field trips were. But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes. Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep. **

"He sounds important." Nat said.

**I hoped this trip would be okay. At least I hoped that for once I wouldn't get into trouble. Boy, was I wrong. **

"Foreshadowing, never good." Agent Hill said.

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyways.**

"Classic, I wish I could've done that." I said thoughtfully.

** And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that… Well, you get the idea. This trip, I was determined to be good. All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redhead kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.**

Steve growled.

** Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth-grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria. **

"Nice way to describe your friend" Bruce muttered.

**Anyways, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip. "I'm going to kill her," I mumbled. Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter." He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch. "That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat. "You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens." Looking back in it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

"Why doesn't that sound good?" Nat asked.

"That's because it isn't." Thor said. We waited for him to elaborate, he didn't.

** Mr. Brunner led the museum tour. He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery. It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousands of years. He gathered us around a thirteen-foot tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everyone around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye. Mrs. Dodds was this lithe math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even thought she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown. From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after school detention for a month. One time, after she'd made me erase answers our of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right." **

"Huh?" Coulson asked "How can you not be human?"

None of us knew, even Thor's people were semi-human.

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art. Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned and said, "Will you shut up?" It came out louder than I meant it to. **

"Doesn't it always?" I said.

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story. "Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?" My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir." Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?" I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That Kronas eating his kids, right?" "Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because…" "Well…" I racked my brain to remember. "Kronas was the king god, and—" **

"GOD!" Thor roared. "Perseus better watch his back for that." He muttered under his breath.

**"God?" Mr. Brunner asked. "Titan," I corrected myself. "And…he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronas ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronas a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronas, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—" "Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me. "— and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won." Some sinkers from the group. Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronas ate his kids'." "And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss. Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**

"Busted." Hill muttered.

** "Busted," Grover muttered.**

We laughed again.

** "Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair. At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears. I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir." "I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronas a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?" **

"That's a happy note?" Clint asked

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses. Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson." I knew what was coming. I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned towards Mr. Brunner. "Sir?" Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go—intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything. "You must learn the answer to my question." Mr. Brunner told me. "About the Titans?" "About real life. And how your studies apply to it." "Oh." "What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson." I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard. I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped. But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C- in my life. No—he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly. **

"Poor kid." Nat said

"That is a good thing, the poor part hasn't even come up yet." Thor said solemnly.

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girls funeral. He told me to go outside and eat my lunch. The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue. Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I had ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in. **

"I remember that, it was like five years ago or something. It was a freak series of storms that only happened over New York, people didn't know what caused it." Bruce said, and I nodded in agreement.

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing. Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know that we were from that school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere. "Detention?" Grover asked. "Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius." Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

We all laughed.

"Classic!" I shouted.

** I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it. I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She's send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me. Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery sticks while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of the chair, making it look like a motorized café table.**

"New invention." I muttered.

** I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends— I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from tourists— and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

Steve growled "I don't like bullies." He said when we all looked at him.

** "Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

"That's a new way of thinking of Cheetos." Coulson muttered.

** I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears. I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!" Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us. Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—" "—the water—" "—like it grabbed her—" I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again. As soon as Mrs. Dodds made sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc, etc, etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I had done something she'd been waiting for all semester. **

"Now why doesn't this seem good?" Nat asked

"It's not, this is bad, very, very bad." Thor said.

**"Now, honey—" "I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks." **

"No!" I yelled. "Never tell your own punishment! Come on!" I yelled.

**That wasn't the right thing to say. **

"No duh." I muttered.

**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said. "Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her." I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death. She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled. "I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said. "But—" "You—will—stay—here." Grover looked at me desperately. "It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying." "Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now." Nancy Bobofit smirked. I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.**

"I've heard of that stare, you don't want to be on the receiving end of it." Thor stated. We waited hoping he would elaborate, he didn't.

** Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on. How'd she get there so fast? I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brian misinterpreting things. I wasn't so sure. **

"Me either," Bruce muttered.

**I went after Mrs. Dodds. Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel. I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall. Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop. But apparently that wasn't the plan. I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section. Except for us, the gallery was empty. Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

"Ok…" Hill said.

** Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it… "You've been giving us problems, honey," she said. I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am." She tugged the cuffs off her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?" The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil. She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me. I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am." Thunder shook the building. "We're not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

"Ok, what the heck? A teacher shouldn't say that?" Bruce said.

"She's not a teacher." Thor said, he had gone a little paler as the story went on.

** I didn't know what she was talking about. All I could think was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room. Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book. "Well?" She demanded. "Ma'am, I don't…" "Your time is up," she hissed. Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons. Then things got even stranger. **

"That can't be possible! This creature doesn't exist!" Fury yelled at the book. Thor had gone deathly pale and was looking like he was picking out a nice casket for the kid.

"Thor what's happening?" I asked. He didn't answer just looked at me silently. I sighed and got back to reading.

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand. "What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air. **

"What's a pen going to do?" I asked. No one answered.

**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me. With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. **

We gasped, on the edge of our seats, waiting with baited breath. Not even a chapter in and we were connected with this kid.

**I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day. Mrs. Dodds spun towards me with a murderous look in her eyes. My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword. She snarled, "Die honey!" And she flew straight at me. Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword. **

"That's natural?" Clint asked

"It is." Thor replied.

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss! Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a powder fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and the chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me. I was alone. There was a ballpoint pen in my hand. Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

"Ok…what?" Steve and Hill asked.

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something. Had I imagined the whole thing? I went back outside. It had started to rain. Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was standing still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said. "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt.**

"Who?" Fury asked.

** I said, "Who?"**

We smiled.

** "Our teacher. Duh!" I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about. She just rolled her eyes and turned away. I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was. He said, "Who?" But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me. "Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious." Thunder boomed overhead. I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved. I went over to him. He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson." I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it. "Sir," I asked, "where's Mrs. Dodds?" He stared at me blankly. "Who?" "The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher." He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Acadamey. Are you feeling all right?"**

"That's the end of the first chapter." I told them.

"So, what exactly is going on?" Fury asked looking over at Thor. He shifted uncomfortable.

"I can not tell you I swore an oath before I was told! I will not break it!" Thor said stubbornly.

"Well I guess we will read to find out. Who's next?" I asked.

"I'll go." Nat said taking the book.

"Chapter 2…." 

**Authors Note**

Whew that took a long time. I never realized how long theses chapters actually were. I hope you enjoy this chapter. I will try and update weekly. Someone asked me why Coulson was alive so I will tell you. I like Coulson and don't want him dead so he's not, plus he has a part to play after the reading of all five books. Thanks. R and R!

~Ranger'sBabe16


	3. Three Old Ladies Knit The Socks of Death

Chapter 3: Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death

**Natasha P.O.V.**

**Chapter 2: Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death**

"Okay what does that mean? Killer socks that would be super cool." Tony said, shocking us all with his intellect, not.

"How would killer socks be cool?" Steve asked, ever the voice of reason in this ragtag group of people.

"Because killer socks would like attack your feet and totally destroy lives I can see it now, Killer Socks Kills Thousands of Feet. Wouldn't that be so cool?" Tony asks

"Anyways," Agent Hill states looking back at me.

**I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty four seven hallucination was more than I could handle, For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if Mrs. Kerr— a perky blond woman whom id never seem in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip— had been our pre algebra teacher since Christmas. **

"That's weird; twenty four hour hallucinations are very rare, in fact…"

"Dr. Banner we don't have time for a science lesson right now." Fury barked at Bruce. I smirked.

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.**

"Maybe he was psycho. I mean maybe Mrs. Dodds was a figment of his imagination." Clint said.

"She wasn't," Thor said. "I've met her, not very nice if I do say so myself. Perseus is very lucky he got away with no injuries, very lucky indeed." Thor stated looking back to me. What the heck? Why isn't he telling us anything? I shook my head and kept reading.

** It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed. Almost. But Grover couldn't fool me. When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate then claim she didn't exist, But I knew he was lying. Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum.**

"See something did happen, this Grover guy obviously can't lie. Maybe Little Miss. Muffet here could teach him something." Tony said looking at us all.

"What did I tell you about calling me names Tony?" I asked him a quiet voice.

"Tu not to." Tony said with a smile. "But I couldn't resist that one, what are you smirking at Robin Hood?" Tony asked Clint. I turned and glared at my partner who held up his hands in surrender. I huffed and turned back to the book.

**I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat. **

We all shuttered, knowing what nightmares were like. We'd all woken up on more than one occasion with them.

**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy.**

"I remember that, the weather people didn't know what was going on. No one had any clue why the weather was doing that, I wonder if Percy had anything to do with it?" Coulson states.

"He's a kid, I highly doubt it." Hill replies.

** One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year. **

"See what modern education has turned to!" Tony shouts with a smirk. We all rolled our eyes.

**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from D's to F's. I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class. Finally, when out English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests I snapped, I called him an old sot, I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.**

"Oh man that's good, if only I could have said that." Tony howled. Thor looked confused so I elaborated.

"Old sot means old drunkard." I tell him. He gets this big grin on his face.

"If only Perseus called Mr. D that. He'd be a dolphin now." Thor said with a smile.

"Okay, what?" Bruce asked. Thor said nothing. That man was infuriating.

** The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy. Fine, I told myself. Just fine. I was homesick. I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties. And yet…there were things I'd miss about Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange. **

"That's not a nice thing to say about your friend." Steve muttered.

"Chill Steve, you can tell that their good friends and don't mind being weird." Clint told him softly.

"They are very good friends, like brothers." Thor said quietly.

**I worried how he'd survive next year without me. I'd miss Latin class, too—Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well. As exam week got closer, Latin was the only class I studied for. I hadn't forgotten when Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him. **

"That's a good and bad thing." Thor muttered. I didn't even wait for him to elaborate, I knew he wasn't.

**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the ****_Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology _****across my dorm room. Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. **

"Ha, I bet he remembers them now. How could he not? People would get very mad if he didn't remember, especially his mentor." Thor laughed.

"Why would they be upset?" Bruce asked. Thor replied without even thinking.

"Would you be mad if your pupil called you the guardian of the gates to the Underworld vs. your name as the centaur?"Thor asked us.

"What? Centaur and the Underworld? What the heck Thor?" Fury asked in his quiet menacing voice.

"I've said too much already." Thor said quietly.

**And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it. I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt. I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious express, his thousand-year-old eyes. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson. I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book. I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.**

"That's so sweet. That poor kid, can you imagine having ADHD and dyslexia? That would be awful." I said feeling for the boy.

"Yeah, that would be no fun, now keep reading." Fury barked. I glared at him with my I will make you pay for that sentence look. He glared right back with his, I am boss and I can and will fire you, look. I relented.

** I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor. I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "…worried about Percy, sir." I froze. I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**

"Well obviously he's not much of an eavesdropper. First rule never admit you don't know." Tony states.

"If my friend went to a teacher about me I would be very upset, I get what Percy means." Agent Coulson tells us in a quiet voice. We all look at him like what? All but Fury and Hill that is.

**I inched closer. "…alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too—"**

"What's a Kindly One?" Hill asked. Everyone looked at Thor who sat there with tight lips.

"I can not say, names have power." Thor said in a quiet voice, especially for Mr. Loudmouth himself.

** "We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."**

** "But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline—" **

"What's the summer solstice deadline?" Bruce and Steve asked. No one knew, or they just didn't say anything, judging by Thor's face he knew exactly what it was.

**"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can." "Sir, he saw her…"**

** "His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that."**

** "Sir, I…I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."**

** "You haven't failed, Grover." Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall—" **

**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud. **

"No never give your position away. You stupid boy." Tony muttered looking at the book with a mix between anger and sadness.

"Tony, drop it." Fury yelled at him.

**Mr. Brunner went silent. My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall. A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow. **

"Robin Hood, I didn't know you knew Percy." Tony said.

"I don't." Clint replied.

"Sure you do, didn't you hear theirs an archers bow and the only one we know that can shoot is Mr. Hood here." Tony said logically.

"Yes, but what about the people we don't know?" I asked Tony.

"Well, I haven't gotten that far yet." He replied.

**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside. A few seconds later I heard a slow clip-clop-clop, like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on. A bead of sweat trickled down my neck. Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."**

** "Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn…"**

** "Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow." "Don't remind me." The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office. I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever. Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm. **

_Ring, ring, ring. _ Fury's phone went off.

"Fury." He barked walking towards the elevator. A few minutes later he walked back in.  
"Hill, Coulson, we need to go. You keep reading and keep me updated, we will be back." Fury says leaving via elevator.

**Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night. "Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?" I didn't answer. "You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?" **

**"Just…tired." I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed. I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing. But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger. **

That's never a good thing when they think someone's in danger. I thought.

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, my eyes were swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.**

"Three hours?! That borders on child abuse." Tony called out.

"No it doesn't." Steve told him.

** For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem. "Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's…it's for the best." His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips. **

"That's gross. Something is wrong in the head with that child. Making kissing faces at a teacher and student."Bruce says. Thor and Tony nod their heads in agreement. I better not meet this chick or there would be bad things happening.

**I mumbled, "Okay, sir."**

** "I mean…" Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time." My eyes stung. Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the whole class telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling I was destined to get kicked out. "Right," I said, trembling.**

"Oh just stop there Brunner, your making things worse." I said.

"He won't stop, will he?" Thor said.

"No, he won't."

** "No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say…you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be—" **

**"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me."**

"There you go Brunner, you just made thing worse, so much worse. That poor kid." Tony said.

"Poor Percy, to have a teacher tell you that at all let alone if front of the class would be traumatizing in the least." Bruce said quietly. We all sat and reflected on something different for a few minutes.

** "Percy—" But I was already gone. On the last day of term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase. The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities.**

"Kind of like me." Tony said with a smile.

"No Tony not like you," Bruce said to him and Tony glared.

** I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies. **

"I hope you don't believe that now, Perseus." Thor said to himself, but we heard.

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city. What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall. "Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool." They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed. **

"That's not nice either." Steve muttered. We ignored him, we all knew he hated bullies.

**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city. **

"Coincidence, I think not." I mumble.

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound. Finally I couldn't stand it anymore. I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?" **

"Again with the Kindly Ones. What are they?" Clint asked waiting for an answer.

"You will find out if you can find your patience, Bird Boy." Thor told him, making Tony laugh.

**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha—what do you mean?" I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam. Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"**

** "Oh…not much. What's the summer solstice deadline?" He winced. "Look, Percy…I was worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers…" **

**"Grover—" "And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were over stressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and…"**

** "Grover, you're a really, really bad liar." **

"See! You need to teach him Miss. Romanoff." Tony pointed out. I smiled and nodded thinking that if I ever met Grover, I'd help him.

**His ears turned pink. From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer." The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:**

**_Grover Underwood_**

**_Keeper_**

**_Half-Blood Hill_**

**_Long Island, New York_**

**_(800) 009-0009_**

**"What's Half—"**

"See names have power." Thor told us thoughtfully.

"Well what is Half—"

"Didn't I just say Names. Have. Power." Thor said deathly loud.

** "Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um…summer address." My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be rich as the others at Yancy. "Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion." He nodded. "Or…or if you need me."**

** "Why would I need you?"**

"Okay that's rude." I said

"I don't think he meant it like that." Bruce said.

** It came out harsher than I meant it too. **

"See," Bruce said.

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you." I stared at him. All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended me. "Grover," I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?" There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from under the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway. After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else. We were on a stretch of country road—no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. **

"Something bad is going to happen." I said suddenly.

"How do you know 'Tasha?" Clint asked me looking intense.

"I can feel it." I said

"Isn't that lovely, our resident spider can feel that it's going to get bad quick right? Wonderful." Tony said sarcastically. I hissed and kept reading.

**On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand. The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of bloodred cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen. I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks.**

"Why would someone knit socks that big?" Steve asked looking confused. For once I was a confused as he was. By the looks of it so was everyone else. I looked at Thor and I happened to see a rush of clarity hit him full on and all color drained from his face and he looked at the book with horror.

"Oh no, that can not be what I think it is. He actually saw them, poor Perseus." Thor babbled, I mean Thor babbled, this must be huge.

** The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn. All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses. The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me. I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching. "Grover?" I said. "Hey, man—" **

**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are aren't they?"**

** "Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**

"Not funny, Perseus. Not funny at all." Thor mumbled looking at the book with horror still.

** "Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all." **

We laughed and Thor glared.

"This is no laughing matter." Thor boomed.

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors—gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. **

Thor sucked in a breath his eyes huge.

**I heard Grover catch his breath. "We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on." **

**"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there." **

**"Come on!" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back. Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic. **

"Oh crap, I get it, I get it!" Tony yelled standing up.

"There just a myth right Thor, this is not possible." Tony muttered,

"They are very real and very scary Tony." Thor said looking deflated.

**Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for—Sasquatch or Godzilla. At the rear the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuttered, and the engine roared to back to life. The passengers cheered. "Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!" Once we got going, I started to feel feverish, as if I'd caught the flu. Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering. **

Thor and Tony didn't look any better at the moment. I looked at them nervous, they looked like they'd seen a ghost.

**"Grover?"**

** "Yeah?" **

**"What are you not telling me?" He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?" **

**"You mean the old ladies? What about them, man? They're not like…Mrs. Dodds, are they?" His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. **

"Worse than Mrs. Dodds, is that possible?" Steve asked.

"Oh, it's very possible, very possible." Thor muttered still white as a sheet.

**He said, "Just tell me what you saw."**

** "The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn." He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else something almost—older.**

"Older, what the heck, Thor?" Bruce asked. Thor shook his head.

** He said, "You saw her snip the cord."**

** "Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal. "This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."**

** "What last time?"**

** "Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth,"**

"What's with the sixth grade thing?" Tony asked.

"It's when they are found, if not earlier, never later. Oh this is not good; I didn't think it had gotten this bad when Asgard decided to not help them." Thor said rubbing his head sadly.

**"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?" **

**"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me." This seemed a strange request to me, but I promised he could. "Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked. No answer. "Grover—that snipping of the yarn, Does that mean somebody is going to die?" He looked at me mournfully, like he was picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin. **

I looked at Thor and Tony and they looked the same.

"That's the end of the chapter." I replied quietly. You could feel the elephant in the room, but only two people knew what the elephant was.

"What is going on?" Bruce asked, with Steve and Clint nodding as well.

"What do you all know of Greek Mythology?" Tony asked us suddenly and it clicked.

"No way." I muttered looking at Thor and Tony. Thor nodded and I sat back with a huff. This was crazy, not only was their one godly power, but two what the heck were we going to do. I noticed when Steve, Clint, and Bruce got it because they gasped, looking petrified. 

"Well, I wanna know what happens next someone read." Tony barks.

"I will." Steve said reaching for the book.

"Chapter 3…"

**Authors Note**

Ok what do you think? This is taking a lot longer to type than I thought so my updates will be farther apart, sorry. Well thanks for reading so far. Read and Review

~Ranger'sBabe16****


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